I came across this Gearwrench post in my social media feed, where wrenches are placed gingerly in a plate or shallow pan before being squirted with ranch dressing.
I’m roughly 80% certain this is real, as opposed to being intended as rage-bait. Ranch on a wrench.
I just watched – and I’m not proud of this – a trailer for a teaser trailer on YouTube.
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The video title says “Superman – Teaser Trailer Tomorrow,” and I didn’t think that “tomorrow” would be literal. Oh, but it was.
I watched a 30-second video about a “teaser trailer” that’s launching tomorrow. A teaser for a teaser trailer. I want my 30 seconds back.
That’s like being given a whiff of an appetizer 5 minutes before it’s ready.
In this test, I linked to 4 specific products on Amazon to have some control over the search results.
Here’s the link to the 4 tools at Amazon.
Here’s what I see when I test the search link – “RESULTS” with 4 sponsored listings. You have to scroll to the actual search results, then there are more sections with sponsored “customers frequently viewed” products, and then “more results” that are all sponsored.
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Out of the 20 products visible on my screen, 4 are the ones I wanted to show up, and 16 are sponsored other stuff.
There are even more unhelpful listings if you’re actually browsing. Here’s a search for “home screwdriver kit” at Amazon.
Then, if you click to see a product, you get an annoying “Rufus” popup.
Do they include a carrying case for organization? You mean like the case that’s visible in the first product image?
Enough of that. Are there any deals and savings in the tools department? Oh. I guess not.
Lowe’s recently gave a presentation in their 2024 analyst and investor conference.
Skimming through the transcript and video presentation, much of everything centered on relaunching their Pro loyalty program and doing lots of all kinds of things with AI and generative AI.
How about instead of doing all that, Lowe’s should focus on things like, you know – customer satisfaction?
I am a happy Home Depot shopper. I tolerate Lowe’s because they sometimes carry tools Home Depot doesn’t. Home Depot could be a little better, but Lowe’s couldn’t be any worse. It’s disgraceful.
Lowe’s says things like:
We have built an AI platform that allows us to reuse components and gives us agility to create innovative solutions alongside many of the leading platforms…
What does that even mean?
We have actually been using AI and machine learning platforms to accelerate pace of innovation for some time now. We currently have roughly 50 AI models in place that fuel our search and product recommendation, sourcing engine, demand planning tools, and pricing.
How does that contribute to customer satisfaction?
I’ve seen what the Lowe’s AI has done, it applies the phrase “household tool set” to random tools. See: Lowe’s Online Catalog is Growing, but is it Better?.
I guess they abandoned their metaverse and NFT ventures. 5 years ago they promised that they would be upgrading their website. When’s that happening?
I saw this Lowe’s ad in my news feed last week. “Lowe’s Cordless Tool Sale,” featuring… “Kobalt 15-Amp 120-Volt CORDED…”
Here’s another one from a different day. Yes, I take screen captures of ads and other stuff.
I’m wondering – is this a staged image, or did they use AI to generate it?
I can only touch upon the state of internet content because it upsets me too much.
A magazine has a list of “best impact drivers.”
Here, for “best warranty,” Metabo HPT wins, with pros such as “same quality/warranty as the company’s green tools,” and “also uses the same 18-volt batteries.” Wow.
They don’t include a price at all, and link to a 3rd party listing on Amazon where the discontinued kit is over $170.
“Con: initially, tool balance felt different than others.” Neither Amazon nor Walmart are authorized Milwaukee tool dealers.
Initially? What about during use? Goodness…
The worst part is that these recommendations are from a once-respected magazine.
ToolGuyd’s not perfect, but I try to focus on the reader experience. If Lowe’s execs could only shop at Lowe’s, and Amazon execs could only shop at Amazon, and magazine “reviewers” had to read what they’re actually putting out, the internet wouldn’t be so broken today.
Serious Question: Where are you right now, as you read this post? Home? Work? Waiting in line for lunch? Someplace else (wash your hands!)?
Jason M
Lowe’s going all in on AI for no reason isn’t surprising at all considering they went all in on the metaverse and NFT’s for no reason.
That being said, I just got a certain Disney movie car carrier on Amazon that upon further inspection is a knock off and just some printed stickers sold by a third party which is annoying, knocking off a $20 kids toy
TheWumpus
It doesn’t seem like a great idea to load even a small car – like a Fiat or something – onto a carrier with Disney movie branding. Nevermind transporting an SUV cross-country on a carrier decked out in Beauty and the Beast regalia! On the other hand, I might be willing to use a boat trailer with Moana stickers on it to bring a small fishing craft less than 10 miles over paved roads to a nearby lake…
Serious Question: Where am I right now? Perched precariously on the semi-encrusted surface of a spinning glob of molten rock that orbits a dense cloud of burning gas in a giant swirling mass of galactic dust falling inevitably into the gaping maw of a super-massive black hole as it hurtles through the infinite void of an indifferent Universe. Where is anyone?
Daniel
Amen!! So true. In response to your comments about Lowe’s vs HD, I do 95% at Lowe’s just because locally their customer service is sooo much better and I also really enjoy the perks at Lowe’s (5% off with card, VSP savings, cash back on a gift card, free drinks/snacks coupons, etc, free water for Pros at checkout, free air for tires, etc. If only Lowe’s sold Milwaukee and more LP smartside products then it would be 100%.
Jason M
I worked at Home Depot out of high school for a couple years – culture and customer service was incredible, store was immaculate and we had a great leadership team.
Transferred to another Home Depot 6 hours away and it was terrible from top down, manage by intimidation and awful. Went to work for Lowe’s across town and it was great, amazing store manager and assistants.
Ironically the culture and strive for customer service at my first Home Depot and the Lowe’s felt more similar than the two Home Depot’s.
Corporate initiatives etc will shift but really depends on who the local leadership is at the store.
Katie
Yes, there are two Lowe’s poorly managed nearby and another when I’m staying in a small town. That one is fantastic. The employees seem upbeat and even fun at times. World of difference. Corporate needs to find good people and reward them if they run a good store. I rarely go to the two poorly managed one, but a 30 minute drive to the other is a pleasure.
Laurence Bunker
This … I used to hate Lowes. But, 10 years ago one came in close by and the manager is phenomenal. Customer service is fantastic, and it’s my go to before I hit Home Depot. I can’t say enough good about this local Lowes.
That said, I still feel that Home Depot has a more consistent experience from store to store, and when I’m not local, I shop Home Depot.
Mangement has an outsized impact on the experience.
Wayne R.
The broken internet seems to reflect our broken society. Maybe I’m just old enough that my youthful idealism is worn out, but I rather think that nothing anywhere really works like it should. The last scraps of my idealism are smoldering.
Humanity is just not up to the challenges of a modern society.
Ben
I would encourage you to look up Cory Doctorow’s very interesting thoughts on the concept of enshittification, pardon my French. It’s not a character issue with humanity at large, it’s a character issue with the sociopaths who have been allowed to accumulate so much power that they can individually influence trends in industry as we see now.
Troy H.
In the end, its hard to separate the actual culpability. The people running the companies and the private equity groups certainly have some,… but we vote for the people who scream about “deregulation” and we love cheap shit.
This is what an economy looks like when you take away the guard rails and stop enforcing what regulations you have for a few decades and let capital run the show. The idea that the invisible hand will regulate the market and create positive outcomes for everyone just isn’t linked to reality. Many markets simply tend towards consolidation and monopoly.
Christopher
There are literally no monopolies in existence other than those that are mandated by government regulation. Deregulating allows more competitors to put forward their attempts at earning our business. We as consumers drive the trends in a free market system. If we decide to spend on stupid things, that’s on us as a whole. I hate the ways in which many industries are run, but they react to the combination of consumer demands and government regulations. To me, the solution is to be better informed consumers, not to ask the government to force others to do what I want them to do. Remember, regulations don’t create anything, they only restrict choice.
PW
This is patently untrue. There are endless monopolies that have nothing to do with “government regulation”. Government regulations are the only thing prevent all industries from consolidating to the point of being a monopsony or monopoly.
In fact, monopolies / cartels are the natural result of the “market”. Prior to our current age, European markets were dominated by cartels.
In our current age, counterexamples are boundless: Microsoft, Ticketmaster, ASML, Google, and on and on are monopolies via the LACK of government action.
I understand that many have a religious need to think otherwise, but that doesn’t change the real world.
MM
@PW
A “cartel” is group of producers. By definition it is not a monopoly, which requires one single producer. Cartels try and act like a monopoly, but when cartels successfully force others under their umbrella instead of undercutting the cartel they are acting as a de facto government in doing so.
I don’t know of a single monopoly that exists or existed without the benefit of some governmental protection, such at letters patent, or acting as its own de facto government. Many of the historical examples of terrible monopolies, like the VOC aka Dutch East India Company, were state sponsored and had governmental powers of their own, like minting their own currency, negotiating treaties with foreign powers, waging war, etc.
Those European “cartels” you mention–by which I assume you are referring to trade guilds–had governmental powers. They enforced price controls, set hours, fixed numbers of apprentices or workers, and so on. That is the very antithesis of a free market.
Ben
Very good points. Took the words out of my mouth.
Jeff Harrell
I did not expect to see a Cory Doctorow reference in these comments! Great author, great book. (it’s also capitalism)
KevinB
I see these off images way too much, it is bizarre how they have no human approval system to check how weird these images are before posting them. This was Home Depots from last week.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ryobi/comments/1hcostc/ai_fail_or_new_battery_system/#lightbox
Aram
Humans cost money, and they almost certainly have internal evidence showing that the ads earn enough to offset the craptacular images while costing less than a human-driven system.
Same with all of the sponsored items on Amazon; the companies pay more for the sponsored entry (in terms of net profit to Amazon) than you do when you buy something, and enough people buy those sponsored things that it’s worthwhile for the advertiser. In this specific case, I’ve personally seen some of the internal evidence showing that an additional sponsored entry earns more money than it “costs” by driving away customers, and that the sponsoring company earns a substantial spike in sales whenever they do it. To be clear, it does drive away customers, but enough of the remaining customers spend money that none of the companies need to care.
…having said all that, there is a handy concept called the “trust thermocline” which describes how companies can go one step too far and are suddenly surprised when there’s a backlash that they can’t fix by simply rolling back the change. It’s connected with recent analyses looking at how you USED to be the customer for Amazon, but now their real customers are the companies advertising on their pages and you’re just the product being sold.
Fingers crossed these companies encounter that thermocline sooner rather than later, but at this point I’m not gonna hold my breath.
Katie
Amazon has nearly crossed that line for me. I’m a prime member and used to buy a lot of stuff, including little stuff like toothpaste and dental floss on there, DIY supplies, as well as really big stuff like power tools. Now, I’m concerned about buying the big stuff since there are more knock offs. The little stuff (and there’s a lot of little stuff)/supplies is now also a problem, since delivery is broken. Msst things do not arrive when they say, and not just over the holidays for a number of months, it’s getting worse.
And forget about returning things easily at Whole Foods. I need to go to UPS, or Kohl’s and wait in line for many items. The USPS delivery is also unreliable, with “attempted delivery messages.” What? I was home, there was no bad weather, last I looked I still have a mailbox and a front porch.
So, I’m thinking of leaving Amazon Prime, since I don’t watch the movies or listen to the music, the only benefit is the shipping. I’m going to try to stop ordering or just occasional stuff and see if I’m better off paying for shipping when I can’t find it elsewhere. Even Walmart is better.
A W
Lol. Yes somewhere I will need to wash my hands.
Jim Felt
But what about our eyes?
TomD
At home, watching some YouTube.
The “AI hype” is the same as the NFT/crypto hype before it – the Lowe’s presentation is designed to make investors say “Ah, they ARE doing the AI, that’s good” instead of actually, you know, doing anything to make the business successful.
avi
In bed, I know it’s bad and do it anyway. Unlike using Lowes’ website where I know it’s bad and no longer use it
avi
Also off topic, I seem to be hitting the moderation barrier now?
avi
Oops, apparently not, feel free to delete
Stuart
It’s been happening more, inexplicably. I’ll be experimenting with new anti-spam filters soon.
MT_Noob
Sitting on the couch watching a movie on the big screen, surfing the web and reading toolguyd on my laptop.
AI and all the hype and buzzwords around it are the newest fad. Anyone or any company not espousing it will be looked down upon. Investors want to hear all about AI in one form or another so they can feel that they aren’t falling behind. Even when it is only buzzwords and laughable implementations. It is only going to get worse, and the most discouraging part, is that we will all, over time, just get used to it. It will just become the inevitable norm.
JP454
Not the point of the article but I’m starting to just hate marketing in general.
A ‘teaser’ trailer is a commercial, it’s that simple. trailer 2-3 min. teaser 30 sec, just list it as a Superman commercial. guarantee the same people will still care. But some genius ‘marketer’ will get credit for that.
And the AI thing is hilarious to me. I have a friend whose smallish employer was looking for additional investment so they of course were advertising a new ‘AI’ assisted computer system. I asked the friend what it did exactly and just had to laugh. They installed filters on incoming emails to the general box that tried to forward them onto an actual employee based on the message text instead of the employees having to check the box on their own, and it didn’t do it well so now they just have to forward emails to each other.
The term AI has lost all meaning in no time at all.
And I honestly wish there was a Lowe’s closer to me. I have about 5 HD before the 2 closest Lowe’s. Lowe’s I can actually find employees who care. HD somehow has 30 employees in the store but talk to any and I’m the inconvenience. 3 pro team/cashier working hard, disabled cart guy working his ass off and the rest are broken up between talking in groups at customer service, self checkout or break room; paint leaning on the counter, doors and kitchen always holding a phone but somehow never talking…
I’m curious if the HD exec store hours thing is real or just marketing. I like the idea. In business school one of my prof said that he required that to some extent in his old company and it completely changed the corporate meeting ideas for the better. I’m hoping it’s legit and works, but the cynical side of me says it was done like all other marketing these days just to try to get a stock bump.
Jared
I think part of the problem with all this “AI integration” is that it’s being used to push sales, rather than improve the customer experience. It’s just an expansion of the problem we already have.
You go looking for a product and the “AI” helps put things in front of your eyeballs that the platform is incentivized to sell – rather than helping you find the thing you’re looking for (or in a dream world, helping you notice something useful but didn’t realize existed).
I.e. Amazon isn’t helping you find the best-performing, well-priced and complete homeowner tool set – it’s making sure you have to scroll past a half-dozen, loosely-related, options it was paid to advertise before you even begin to find something like you were looking for.
It’s like they only put the thing you’re looking for in the search results to bring you to their ad platform. They’re toying with the borders though, threatening to break your reason for being there in the first place.
Katie
I do better if I don’t search using the Amazon site, but rather do a Brave or other engine search. It will bring up the items, many of which will be on Amazon.
Alex
Absolutely agree. Amazon used to be a good place to look for ideas (like books related to other books). Now when I search for something I get so much clutter that isn’t relevant. A recent search for a specific pocketknife didn’t just bring other entirely different pocket knives but a collection of wallets, pens, camping equipment etc. as to make it worthless. Curation is almost a lost art online. (Exception – TG – keep up the good work)
Farmerguy
I keep wondering if the next adjacent business of Amazon’s is a curated, cleanly streamlined site that curates real quality items with a consolidated product page. All the fluff that one needs to scroll through on a product page is simplified and the product suggestions, reviews, items other people bought are just a button hidden away at the bottom. I give their logistics high grades for what they achieve, UI not so much. I can only hope they make a minimalist Amazon site option. Same data, just not so loud.
Stuart
I miss Small Parts. It was absorbed into the whole, then they had Amazon Industrial Supply, now it’s all nothing.
MSC used to have Enco. And then they were gone. Grainger has Zoro, and they’ve expanded into a messy unnavigable mess.
Amazon has grown so large that no one there Seems to cares about the user experience.
Walmart launched a Pro tools store a few years ago, and I was so optimistic about what they said they were going to do. It wasn’t a ship floating on the water, it was a cardboard cutout, and they let it sink through negligence. Just throwing some ingredients together doesn’t bake a cake. You actually have to bake the cake, and they didn’t. They just left the ingredients in a pile saying “we’ve got the makings of a cake,” and it all rotted before being discarded.
I got email from a tool truck brand. “Why don’t you ever talk about our stuff.” Sure, send me some info about your new release. Anything new? Anything new? Hello???? They got nasty and said they stopped paying attention because I said I prefer to focus on tools readers could find independently without having to deal with tool truck salespeople.
I sound cynical because I’ve been disappointed over and over. I truly believe that too few actually care about people anymore. At some companies, we’re not seen as people, just walking dollar signs.
Farmerguy
Agree. If marketing and financials say it makes more money, don’t change. Sad. Then again what goes around comes around. We might go back to a counter person at the store getting what we want and asking or suggesting other items. Curbside pickup is moving that direction in a way.
Bill
All those magazine ‘best X’ lists are nothing more than AI generated affiliate link farms. It’s such a pain trying to research any purchase any more. Search results get overfilled with all those. I’ve found myself using Youtube more for research despite the fact that I find video to be a very inefficient medium – I can read much, much faster.
All AI seems to be accomplishing is generating heaps of useless crap that makes it harder to find the actual useful information. The cost to generate that crap is so low, it doesn’t do anything to discourage doing so.
Frank D
Maybe Lowe’s website is not great, I rarely use it; but at least I can get helpful staff and customer service, as opposed to most of my HD experiences, where staff walks about without offering help, even in their own department. The only guy that consistently approaches people is the guy who upsells windows and roofs and what not … now that guy I am happy he has learned to ignore me.
As far as website. Amazon and all indeed now indeed have too much fluff on the page, sponsored, also purchased, related to, unrelated to, deals that are no deals, …
Patrick
I actually prefer staff leave me be, if I need help I’ll find them. It gets annoying when staff keep coming up to you.
Andy
Going OT on the post, Acme Tools is offering 15% off on many already-discounted items today with code “EXTRA15”
The M18 8ah Forge / Supercharger plus free 8ah Forge holiday promo combo is normally $350, and with the code, is $300. Seems like a good deal to me.
Mopar
At home, waiting for the coating of snow we got last night to melt so I don’t have to plow it. In a little while I’ll be heading into work on a “job” I’ve been doing for free, so I don’t feel bad about the late start. On the way there, I have to grab a few things at Lowe’s, after I swore I wouldn’t shop there after they screwed up 3 times in about as many weeks, but the stuff I need was on sale there. Sigh.
Speaking of Lowe’s, I just happened to see this while ordering my other stuff, looks like a decent deal. All brushless for only $50 more than the usual 2 tool brushed starter set.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/DEWALT-20V-MAX-4-Tool-Combo-Kit/5015401489
Goodie
I prefer the in-store experience at Lowe’s. Generally cleaner and the staff is friendly; they do their best to be helpful. HD is usually exceptionally dirty, with so much stuff stacked in the aisles that it seems like it would be a fire hazard. The staff at HD seem disgruntled and angry to be there. Lowe’s marketing sucks, but I generally hate slick marketing. Just have the stuff available in the giant box and I will pick through what I want.
Lowe’s does not have the tacky “We win!”posters at the front entrance. Take a hint, HD: we as consumers get to decided if you win by voting with our dollars.
However, I like being treated like a customer who (gasp) is treated politely.
Mopar
I guess it all depends on the store. As I’ve mentioned before, my local blue and orange stores are at opposite ends of the same huge multi square mile shopping complex, and Lowe’s is always empty of shoppers and seems dark and dreary and disorganized. The HD is bright, everyone is friendly and the store is always busy. I’ve had issues with both companies, the difference was HD always bends over backwards to make it right, and Lowes does the exact opposite. My last Lowes purchase before today was something they needed to drop ship to me. Fedex lost it, and Lowe’s expected me to file a claim with the manufacturer since they shipped it. Sorry, that’s not how it works. I purchased the item from Lowe’s. I don’t care how they complete the transaction, but they are the ones I entered into a contract with.
Goodie
Yep – it’s very much dependent on the store management. Brick and mortar retail is still about fundamentals: good managers who take care of customers and employees, inventory management, cleanliness, and customer service. It’s a highly local experience. I’ve been in fabulous HDs; they’re just generally not fabulous near me.
Jeff Thelen
Just sitting at my desk, grateful that you care about this site, its content, and its readers! Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holiday of choice to you and yours!
Josephus
The Dewalt garage pic does look Ai generated. They didn’t even bother smoothing or blending the edges.
Lowes needs to apply some type of AI to their tailored ads rather than whatever garbage they’re doing now. I get (emailed) ads for sales, things related to other things I bought, almost NONE of which is in stock at my local Lowes. Then they want me to drive 50 miles out to pick it up? Why can’t they do store to store transfers from their hub? Do they not have hubs?
The local Lowes is less than five miles from my house. I shop there because it’s convenient and their pickup desk is fast and responsive. However, if they don’t have what I need (or even what they’re trying to sell me) what’s the point?
John
Well, in the spirit of ‘off-topic’ there IS one thing I appreciate about Lowe’s: their restrooms are usually at the front of the store, near checkout. At Home Depot they are usually hidden at the farthest possible spot from the front doors, along the back or side of the building.
I guess that falls under customer service.
Ben
I stopped reading the magazine in question a while back because a) their website was literally unreadable without an ad blocker, b) with an ad blocker, it was mostly just advertising posts, without any actual content or good advice, and c) their print version had ended up being 66% ads by page space. Not even articles disguised as ads, which also took up maybe another 15%. I’m not going to pay to be advertised to.
It’s a shame – I actually enjoyed reading the mag about 10 – 15 years ago, when they had fun project tips and in-depth explorations of some intriguing technical projects. Clearly those days are gone.
Ezzy
I found a Popular Mechanics magazine from the 50s. Front cover story was about how to build a cabin by a lake iirc. There’s absolutely nothing “Mechanics” about the magazine today. Why am I reading random articles that belong in Popular Science??
MM
I shop at Lowe’s more often than HD mainly because of location, but I don’t expect much from either store honestly. HD seems to have more helpful employees but the inventory count is abysmal. Most employees at either store are clueless phone zombies. But lately the self-checkout experience at Lowe’s has been getting much worse. I’ve been in a few times in the last several days and each time the line seemed to take a lot longer even though there weren’t huge number of people or anyone with massive full carts. I counted no less than five totally unnecessary questions from the kiosk during the checkout process. Two were attempts to get my Email address, two were begging for money. If you want to buy hardware (nuts, bolts, etc.) the customer is not allowed to enter the codes themselves; this requires an employee to scan their ID badge to enter. each. and. every. line. item. The same applies to cut goods like wire or chain. On top of this the kiosk would constantly request that the scanner gun be put back on its holder, when it already was correctly in the holder.
What should be a fast and simple checkout process (and it *is* at Home Depot) turns into a miserable experience. I was not the only one upset, I noticed a few other customers who were just as irritated at being bombarded with unnecessary questions when they just want to pay for their purchase and get back to work.
I brought this to the manager’s attention two days ago. She told me that they had just installed a new software update for the self-checkouts and they had been receiving an unusually high number of complaints since. I asked her if that was the case why didn’t they roll back to the previous software revision, or temporarily close the self-checkouts and open the normal registers instead, after all there were plenty of Lowe’s employees milling about the front end so it was clearly not a personnel issue. She just sort of stood there with a puzzled expression and didn’t have an answer.
If you ask me, Lowe’s needs to sort THAT out before anything else.
Answer to the serious question: at my desk, in my work office, on a PC. I sometimes browse Toolguyd on a tablet. The only time I browse the web on a phone is if I’m stuck at some long wait, like airport, doctor’s office, etc.
mark w
I am currently reading this post from my workplace bathroom, haha.
Doresoom
Worse yet, that last picture isn’t even of the M12 Surge, it’s just the M12 FUEL impact driver.
Mason M
It is currently 11am on Thursday morning and I am sitting on my couch, reading Toolguyd! Layoff life is rough lol.
The nice thing about AI and consumerism is that the AI doesn’t pick a side; we do. Firefox has a neat new feature built into the browser that will check reviews on Amazon and similar sites for AI generation and actual ownership of the product and give them a letter grade for reliability AND show you an adjusted review score. It’s like a counter-AI… AI.
As far as the Big Box Brand Battle goes, I’ve been preferring team blue over orange recently – mostly because my local HD has awful employees that are never there when you need them and I never have that issue at my local… well, anywhere besides Home Depot tbh.
Yadda
If only AI alone were the solution…..
Mister Mike
I’ve noticed that my search results change depending on the browser I use. I’ve previously used Chrome and Firefox, but last year I switched to Brave which blocks trackers, ads, and other secret internet cookie stuff. (Right now on Toolguyd.com it says it’s blocking 3 ads. My apologies if it’s blocking your ad revenue, too.) I don’t know how Brave does it, but it blocks the email ads on Gmail which I hate as that’s a never ending Google game of wack-a-mole. When I clicked your first Amazon link I got the proper results plus sponsored links to, among other things: Wisconsin ginseng, Korean red ginseng, replacement lavatory faucets, and a $75 pack of 0.95 of Kellogg’s “Froot Loops” which made me laugh twice.
All the major online sellers like Amazon, eBay, Lowes, etc., not to mention Google, have collected so much information that is shared that I am no longer surprised that something I’ve searched for on one site turns up on another. But the categories are set so broadly that searching for a wrench gives up an infinite number of choices. I usually resort to putting terms in quotes and include all the possible descriptors, i.e. “fence”, “metal”, “black”, “gate latch”. Lately a number of results include weird brand names that are clearly companies trying to catch customers who can’t spell or who are less discerning on brands. Ever notice how many cheap tool brands use the same color plastic for their products as major brands? These search algorithms know about color, too, when results are calculated. That’s how they capture our 30 seconds of attention.
And I’m at my desktop for my usual pre-lunch read of Toolguyd. Keep up the good work, Stuart. The internet isn’t totally broke yet with websites like yours.
Stuart
Regarding ad blockers, if it improves your reading experience without breaking anything, go for it.
blocky
I’ve had disappointments with Lowes in recent years, but last week, I needed a new pin nailer next day, ordered for pickup at 8pm, and they texted me at 8am that it was ready for pickup, with a code to a locker that just popped open with my items inside. I was in and out in 1 minute and didn’t have to stand in line or wait while someone went to check on whether my items were pulled, or where it was stashed, or whether the items were at all correct. Home Depot gets most of my business, but order for pickup is atrocious at all locations near me, sometimes I’ve been in there for a full hour or more to collect something that was ‘ready’ according to notifications.
Anyways, I’ve complained here before, but in this experience, Lowes made a good implementation of tech.
Doresoom
My local HD has pickup lockers for smaller items as well – maybe one cubic foot or a little bigger.
Mr. C
Caveat Emptor.
Translated: Buyer Beware.
There have always been con artists, BS artists, scammers, etc since the dawn of time.
There’s so much nonsense, noise, confusion, and whatnot to wade through — because in the game of capitalism, all is fair in the quest to separate you from your hard-earned money.
As for the Lowes AI announcements, it’s corporate-speak BS bingo….a lot of words, not a lot of meaning. Pretty much, some higher up wanted to go “AYY-EYE ALL THE THINGS!” and this is the results from it.
In other words, like most things AI, they couldn’t make anything worthwhile from it, so they speak in generalities and vagueness. If there was actionable, real gains — they’d be beating their chest in pride over them.
John
All I can say is I hear you Stuart, and I feel the same way.
Drew M
Your Amazon link works as expected for me but I’m also blocking ads so I guess the ad blocker blocks all the sponsored nonsense. Nice to know.
ColeTrain
You guys remember all those fast and furious movies? I don’t but obviously a lot of people do because they made like 10 of them. It’s all business and that’s all about money. Garbage sells. It’s capitalism, simple as that. People used to drink radium until their body parts fell off. People buy Milwaukee because home Depot says it’s the best. Nobody I have ever known has HPT tools why? Personally I have no idea but probably Lowe’s. They’re desperate
Ray
Stuart, thanks for dedicating this post to the end of the internet.
The internet is a tool which I had hoped would allow access to & exchange of ideas with other humans – sharing, exploring, learning together.
In the many online spaces which are now curated by and saturated with AI (marketplaces, news sites, chat forums), novelty and creativity is lost. Once a tool for human connection, the internet has become a product that optimizes sales. Searching via mainstream engines or social media no longer empowers exploration of ideas; instead, these methods primarily yield AI-generated sales-pitches and the few other “unique” results are still skewed by your ransomed dataset, a hood that limits your exposure to ideas which the AIs have predicted you will select.
I read ToolGuyd posts everywhere at home, but this monologue comes from my couch. Your site is one of a few remaining useful spaces on the internet. Thank you for holding strong.
Doug
Lowe’s is off the rails. They are all in with self checkout. Nobody likes it. I’ve told them numerous times and they don’t care. I have told them their prices are too high. It shouldn’t be cheaper for Amazon to ship me the product than to buy it from Lowe’s. Here at least their garden section isn’t open in fall/winter so any outside projects involving hard scape material is out unless you want to push a flat cart loaded with pavers through the store. Now for the kicker. In my town they allowed a harbor freight to be built in front of their store. Why would you allow that?! I mean 100ft from their store close.
As for the internet. Look into dead internet theory. I believe it. It’s increasingly bots and AI. No real content. Even our comments are often censored or not even posted. On many sites after commenting if I log off and look for my comment it’s invisible. So to me I can see it and nobody else can. I am talking non controversial comments. It’s all controlled. Scripted. Manipulated.
Mike
FWIW The Amazon link opens (for me) exactly the same as pictured. However, Amazon’s website is broken by design. It’s almost impossible to browse products by category without being forced into a search or the settings being changed (Sort by: – ‘Price: Low to High’ changing to ‘Featured’ on the next page of results).